Textile printing apparatus for printing one or both sides of fabrics



y 1943- 'J H. COOGAN 2,318,374

TEXTILE PRINTING APPARATUS FOR PRINTING ONE OR BOTH SIDES OF FABRICS Filed June 20, 1941 Fig. 2 34 3nventor JOHNHEM g Cooew ttorneg Patented May 4, 1943 as TENT o gnaw.

TEXTILE PRINTING APPARATUS FOR PRINTING ONE OR BOTH SIDES OF FAB- RIOS Application June 2c, 1941, Serial No. 398,996

4 Claims.

This invention relates to textile printing apparatus', and it applies to a mechanism arranged for printing both sides of the fabric in a printing press which serves normally for printing one side only.

A standard multiple or multi-color printing press for printing one side of a fabric comprises a set of printing rolls associated with one or more backing cylinders which are arranged for the passage of the fabric therebetween. In one type of machine, the backing cylinder is a large freely rotatable drum around which several printing rolls are mounted in arcuate arrangement, and each printing roll is adjustably held under pressure against the backing cylinder. The printing rolls are positively driven by suitable gear mechanism, and the backing cylinder is rotated by the frictional drive thereof. This arrangement provides for printing only one side of the fabric.

This multi-color type of machine has also been built with a duplex attachment which cooperates therewith for printing both sides of the fabric. This attachment has comprised small backing cylinders mounted on the slideways in front of part of the printing rolls and forming printing couples therewith. The fabric to be printed is passed first through the extra printing zone formed by these small duplex couples for printing one side of the fabric, and then it passes over a guide roll and back between the large backing cylinder and the remaining printing rolls. This is an expensive construction, and its use requires considerable waste of time for assembling and dismantling the duplex attachments, and the full capacity of the printing machine cannot be ob tained where changeovers are frequent.

It is a primary object of my invention to provide a simple mechanism which may be employed with a standard multiple textile printing press so that the fabric may be printed either on one side or on both sides without requiring changes in the machine structure. a

A further object is to provide a standard multiple printing press with an attachment which may be used for reversing the fabric after it has been printed on one side by part of the printing couples so that it may be printed on the other sideby the remaining printing couples, and which is so arranged that the fabric may be passed through the machine in a normal manner for printing on one side only and without requiring any structural changes in the mechanism.

A further object is to provide an attachment for a multiple printing press which is so con-- structed and arranged that two back gray cloths may be fed into the printing zones and each may serve separately as a backing for the freshly printed fabric in one of the printing zones. Further objects will be apparent in the following disclosure.

Referring to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic fragmentary elevation, partly broken away, of a printing press and associated mechanism for reversing the fabric and feeding a second back'gray cloth therewith, together with a diagrammatic view of a fabric drying system;

Fig. 2 is a top plan viewof the fabric reversing mechanism taken on'the line'2--2 of Fig. 1, but with thefirst back gray guides removed;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary detail of one of the adjustable skewed guides; and

Fig. 4 is an end view of the parts shown in Fig.3.

The printingpress may be of a standard construction adapted for the multi-color printing of one side only of the fabric. It may comprise a plurality of printing couples formed of a set of printing rolls and one or moreassociated backing cylinders between which'the fabric passes and is printed. As illustrated, this machine may have the printing rolls Ill, ll, l2 and I3=,"or a different number thereof, associated with a freely rotatable backing cylinder I' l in such a mannerthat the backing cylinder forms a printing couple with each of the printing rolls for printing the fabric therebetween. The press may have parallel end frames It suitably mounted on the floor" l6 of the mill. Each frame is shaped to provide 'a plurality of slide ways I 1 arranged to carry slide blocks I8, each of which adjust'abl'y supports one of the end bearings for the mandrel carrying its associated printing roll. A'pressure screw it) suitably thread'ed'th-rougha' portion of the framework is'adapted to apply pressure to the block 8 and thus move the printing roll into proper printing contact with the fabric. The fabric 20 may be passed with an associated back gray cloth 22 and a rubber blanket, if desired, between the printing rolls and backing cylinder. The printing rolls are driven in synchronism by means of gears 25 mounted on the, ends of the mandrels and adapted to mesh with and be driven by the bull-gear 26 which isconce'nt'ric with the backing cylinder 14. The cylinder I l may be mounted on suitable bearings for free rotation and it is driven solely by' the frictional-force of the printing rolls. A suitable electric motor, not shown, is adapted to drive the gear 26 and thus to drive each of the printing rolls in synchronism. Suitable constructional features may be employed for rotating the printing rolls relative to the driving gears so that the engravings on the rolls may be brought into proper registry with the printed pattern, and other mechanisms well known in the industry and applied to standard printing machines may be incorporated in the construction for the purpose of accomplishing a desired multiple printing operation.

In accordance with my invention, I propose to utilize a part of the printing couples of such a standard or other suitable multiple-press for printing one side of the fabric and the remainder for printing the other side; and this is accomplished by a mechanism which reverses the fabric at the intermediate printing stage. If desired, the first printed portion of the fabric may be dried or otherwise treated during the interval in which it is passing from one set of printing couples to the other. Also, I may provide mechanism for supplying two separate back gray cloths, one for each of the printing operations, so that the printing ink which gets onto the back gray cloth in the first stage printing may not soil the fabric in the second stage. Other constructional features may also be utilized.

A simple form of reversing mechanism, as shown in the drawings, comprises a set of guides, which may be rollers but are preferably arranged as substantially stationary guide bars. These may be mounted near and preferably beneath the machine in such an arrangement as to turn over the cloth, which is suitably threaded therethrough. For example, after the fabric has passed the first printing zone comprising the two rolls l and H, or any desired number thereof, it travels downwardly through a slot in the floor and thence around a set of stationary guides or rollers 30 and 31, whose lines of contact with the fabric are parallel with the axes of the printing rolls. From the top of the guide 3|, the fabric passes over and around a skewed guide 32 suitably mounted in the framework. The direction of travel of the fabric and the back gray cloths are indicated by the lines and arrows. The line of contact of the fabric with the skewed guide 32 is at an angle of sub stantially 45 to its on-coming path of travel. This results in turning the cloth through an angle of 90. Then the fabric passes under and around another guide or roll 34, whose line of contact is substantially at right angles to the line of contact of the guide 3| or at 45 to the skewed guide 32. The guide 34 is outside of the path of travel of the fabric between the guides 30 and 3 I. From here, it goes under and around a second skewed guide 36 whose line of contact lies at 45 to the guide 34. That is, the lines of contact of the fabric with the two skewed guides 32 and 34 are at right angles to each other. The guide 36 is above and spaced from the guide 32 so as to provide room for the passage of a back gray cloth. The fabric passes from the skew guide 36 to a guide 31 from which it may go directly to the second printing zone where it passes between the printing roll I2 and the backing cylinder. versed in its passage over the guides so that it is now the other side up, and the first printed side is now facing the backing cylinder and the unprinted side is ready to be printed on by the rolls l2 and [3 of the second printing zone. It

The fabric has been rewill be noted that the first printed side of the fabric does not contact with any of the guide bars before it enters the second printing zone, and this extensive passage through the air may be suiiicient to dry the ink before it contacts with the back gray cloth or other material located beneath the fabric.

Another feature of this construction involves utilizing two separate back gray cloths, one to back the fabric in one printing zone and the other cloth for the other printing zone. The back gray cloth 22 of Fig. 1 may pass directly from the first printing zone beneath the rollers i9 and H around the cylinder 14 and to the second printing zone beneath the rollers 12 and i3 where it lies in back of the fabric after the latter has been reversed. I prefer to introduce a second back gray cloth into the second printing zone so that the previously printed sid of the fabric may not be soiled. To this end, a roll of back gray cloth 4!) may be suitably mounted. on standards 4|, and the cloth passes through a slot in the floor 16 of the mill to a series-of guides 42, 43 and 44 which are so arranged that the cloth may pass first beneath the reversing guides and then back between the skewed guides 32 and 34 and the portions of fabric carried thereby. It then goes to a roller or guide 45 where the cloth is in position behind the fabric 20 as the latter enters the second printing zone. This second back gray cloth 40 will lie above or outside of the first back gray cloth 22 and the two together will form a double backing for the fabric in the second printing zone.

Various other constructions may be employed for presenting a back gray cloth properly beneath the fabric in the second printing zone. For example, I may direct the first back'gray cloth 22 to a guide roll '46 and then to a skew roll 41 (Fig. 1) set at an angle of 45 which turns the direction of travel and causes it to pass out of the machine after it leaves the first printing zone. -This cloth may then be passed through washing and drying apparatus and be returned to the printing zone, or it may pass directly and cyclically again to the first printing zone, or it may be rolled up on a spool and stored for further treatment. Hence, this construction is such that the first back gray cloth may be passed through the second zone or not, as preferred by the operator. I

- Any suitable constructional features may be employed for mounting these various guides or skew rolls. For example, I may have a framework or a box structure comprising sides and end members and 5| suspended by means of bolts and nuts 52 from the floor above. -These nuts may be adjustable on the bolt for the purpose of moving the assembled guides towards or away from the printing machine above. This movement of the guides serves to adjust the length of the fabric between the roll H to the roll l2 and so aids in registering the printing patterns on the opposite sides of the fabric. This adjustment may be accomplished by moving one or more of the guides to vary the distance of travel between the two sets of printing couples. It will also be appreciated that the driving gears '25 which drive theprinting rolls may be also adjusted relative to the rolls so as to insure this registration. The various guides, except the two skewed guides, may be otherwise mounted in fixed locations, either as rollerscarried'on suitable bearing supports '54 (Fig.. 2) or as bars Which-are bolted to .the framework, and any suitable constructional arrangement may be em graved surface of the printing roll, I may mount the skewed guides 32 and 36 in such a manner that their angularity may be changed slightly.

To this end, the guide 32 may be mounted to swing about a pivot pin 56 suitably supported in the framework 50 of the machine, and the" guide 36 may be likewise mounted to swing about a pin 51. The other end of each of these guide bars is arranged to be moved and preferably by mechanism which may becontrolled from a position adjacent to the printing machine, so that the printer may watch the results of making the adjustment. The free end 58 of thebar 32 may be inserted in an enlarged slot 59 within a guide block 60. The guide block is held in place on the framework by means of a couple of angle irons 6 l. A screw threaded rod 62 passes through a threaded opening in the slide block 60 and this rod is suitably held in bearings so that it may be rotated without moving endwise. Suificient looseness in the joint between the end 58 of the bar 32 and the slot 59 is provided to permit the angular adjustment of the guide relative to the slide block 60. The other end of the rod 62 is supported in suitable bearings 64 and it carries on its outer end a bevel gear 65 meshing with another gear 66 mounted on the vertical shaft 6! which is carried in suitable bearings. The shaft 61 passes upwardly through the floor I6 to a point where a key slot 68 in the upper end of this shaft may be engaged by a suitable key 69 on the lower end of the removable post 1|] carrying the hand wheel I l A similar construction is arranged for the other guide bar 36 and need not be described in detail. It will thus be seen that if the fabric tends to run out of proper tracking alignment with the printing rolls, either one or both of the guide bars may be slightly swiveled to bring the fabric to its proper position. Since the hand wheel is located near the printing machine, the operator may watch the effect of the adjustment on th entering fabric as he turns the hand wheel.

If the printing operation requires that the fabric be dried between the first and second printing stages, then a suitable drier mechanism may be utilized in the system. This is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1 as comprising a drying drum which may be mounted at any desired location for receiving the fabric after its first printing stage. This drying drum 15, or a series of drums, may be suitably heated, as by steam, and the fabric passes from a guide 16 to the drum and around a substantial portion of its circumference and thence around a series of guide rolls H, 78, i9, 80, BI and 82 which lead it into the second printing zone. It will be appreciated that a standard drying equipment may be incorporated in this system and in any desired location provided it is arranged to dry the fabric between the two printing stages.

It will now be appreciated that various modifications and combinations of structure may be utilized in accordance with this invention for reversing the fabric in its passage between two printing zones of a standard or other suitable type of textile printing machine, provided the parts are so related to and associated with the printing machine that the fabric ,may pass directly and continuously from one printing zone of the machine to the reversing mechanism and "then to a second printing zone of the machine without stopping the continuous forward motion thereof. My construction utilizes a print ing machine as it is built and without material modifications thereof, and it requires merely that the machine have enough printing couples so that only half of them need to be used for printing one side of the fabric. Also, this construction is such that the fabric may be passed through" the machine for printing on one side only without utilizing the reversing mechanism; andin another case it is merely necessary to thread the fabric, after it has passed the first half of the printing rolls, through the reversing mechanism and then back into the second zone in order to employ the reversing feature. This occupies only afew moments in setting up the 'machine and there is no serious waste of time of either the operator or the machine for making the changeover.

, It will also be appreciated that one may adopt various methods of printing as regards using either one or two back gray cloths as above explained. The mechanism is so constructed and arranged that whether or not the two separate back gray cloths go through the second zone is merely a matter of how the machine is set up. Ordinarily, the drying apparatus need not be employed; and the fabric may be sent directly from the first printing zone to the second after it has been reversed, and the-passage of the printed fabric through the air will serve to dry it sufficiently. flit, however, is feasible to circulate heated or drying air adjacent to the fabric during its reversing travel or to employ other systems or mechanisms for the purpose of drying the same.

It will, therefore, be understood that the above description is to be interpreted as illustrative of the general principles of the invention and a preferred embodiment of construction and not as limitations on the claims appended hereto.

I claim:

1. A textile printing apparatus comprising a plurality of printing couples arranged to print one side only of a fabric passing normally there through, a guide member arranged for receiving the unprinted side of the fabric in its travel from one couple at an intermediate printing stage, two skewed guides arranged at substantially to each other to contact with said unprinted side, another guide at 45 to each of the skewed guides and associated guide parts which receive the fabric from said member and reverse the same, means for guiding the reversed fabric to another printing couple for printing th unprinted face thereof, means including manually adjustable mechanism operable from a position adjacent to the printing machine for adjusting the angularity of each skew roll to change the direction of fabric travel as it enters the second printing zone and means for adjusting the distance of travel of the fabric from one printing couple to another, whereby the patterns on the opposite sides of the fabric may be registered.

2. A textile printing apparatus comprising a printing machine having a plurality of printing couples, which are arranged to print normally only one side of a fabric, mechanism associated therewith for reversing the fabric after it has passed one printing couple and guiding it to a second printing couple for printing the other side thereof, means for guiding a back gray cloth into the printing machine for use with the first printing couple and means for guiding a second back gray cloth into position between the reversed fabric and the backing cylinder of the second printing couple, T

3. A textile printing apparatus comprising a printing machine having a plurality of printing couples,which are arranged to print normally only one side of a fabric, mechanism associated therewithfor reversing the fabric after it has passed one printing coupleand guiding it to a secondprinting couple for printing the other side I thereof; means for leading a back gray cloth into the first printing couple, means for directing said cloth away from the machine and preventing it from passing to the second printing couple and means for presenting a separate back gray;

cloth to the second printing couple betweenthe fabric'and the backing cylinder.

4. A printing machine comprising a plurality ,of printing couples, means for leading a fabric and a back gray cloth between one roll and the associated cylinder in one printing couple, means for directing the back gray cloth coming from said, couple to a position remote from'the machine, a fabric reversing mechanism comprising skewed rolls arranged at substantially 90 to each othenan associated roll at 45 to each of the skewed rolls and guide rolls cooperating to receive the iabricissuing from the first printing couple and reverse the same and present it to the second printing couple, means providing a supply of a second back gray cloth and guides which direct the second back gray cloth between said skewed guides into a position where. it enters the second printing couple between the fabric and theassociated backing cylinder.

JOHN HENRY COOGAN. 

